Records

Ave.

Ave.

0-0

Top 16

0-0

2-0

Regular Season

0-2

2-0

Overall

0-2

Referees

Crew Chief

CHIARI, ROBERTO, Italy

Referee

VOJINOVIC, MILIJA, Serbia

Umpire

JURAS, MARKO, Serbia

The Take

This clash between champions of Spain and Poland also pits an undefeated side against a winless side. Barcelona as impressed so far this season even with injuries, as the likes of Alex Abrines and Tibor Pleiss have produced off the bench. In fact last week Barca’s reserves outscored the starters 30-48. PGE Turow has two of the league’s top performers this season in shooting guard Mardy Collins and big man Damian Kulig. Strong play from point guard Tony Taylor and the recent signing of forward Chris Wright give Coach Rajkovic weapons to play with. Taylor will be tested by the savvy Marcelinho Huertas, while Collins will need to shake Brad Oleson and Abrines at shooting guard. Kulig might face his biggest challenge yet in Justin Doelmann. Turow center Ivan Zigeranovic must hold his own against Ante Tomic and Pleiss for the visitors to have a chance. Barcelona is naturally the favorite at home, but Turow has shown great fighting spirit so far.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Euroleague.net

Game Notes

FC Barcelona
Juan Carlos Navarro has made 22 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Justin Doellman has made his last 11 free throws in Euroleague games.
Maciej Lampe has made 15 consecutive free throws in Euroleague action.
Alex Abrines took advantage of Juan Carlos Navarro’s absence to match his Euroleague career high with 21 points scored on 5-of-5 three-point shooting in a road win at EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
Tibor Pleiss has blocked at least 1 shot in three straight and eight of his last nine Euroleague games.

PGE Turow Zgorzelec
Two PGE Turow players are ranked among the league leaders in performance index rating: Mardy Collins is tied for second with 23.5 per game, while Damien Kulig is tied for fourth with 22.5.
Collins is second in the league in scoring with 43 points through two games. Fenerbahce Ulker guard Andrew Goudelock leads the league with 46 points.
Vlad Moldoveanu leads the league with 9 fouls committed through two games.
New signing Chris Wright could make his Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut this week.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI

FC Barcelona

"PGE Turow is a new challenge for us. They are an opponent that comes from two straight losses, but they have always been in the fight for the win. They play also all kinds of defense well. After having won in Milan, this home game is very important for us. Turow will be a difficult opponent and much more demanding than what people think. My players will need an extra effort to know who they are playing against. Navarro has been practicing with the group and he might be able to play some. In any case, he won't have many minutes, he's not ready yet."

RAJKOVIC, MIODRAG

PGE Turow Zgorzelec

"It is always special feeling to play in such a basketball country as Spain. This feeling is even stronger when I think about playing against Barcelona. A lot of times I said that being among such famous teams in such a difficult group means a lot to us but now we have to show that we can play with them on similar level and actually compete with them. On the other hand, we are obliged to do it because I feel truly honored to represent Poland in Euroleague. Tomorrow we will try our best to be tough opponent to Barcelona and I am sure we will fight till the end to get a win and this clash will give fans a lot of emotions and will benefit us as a team in experience at the highest level."

Players

LAMPE, MACIEJ

FC Barcelona

"PGE Turow is the current best team in Poland. They boast lots of talent and have played two good Euroleague games so far despite the losses. They have inside players who can shoot from long range, and they will be very demanding."

COLLINS, MARDY

PGE Turow Zgorzelec

"We have to come out on the court focused and motivated to be able to compete with Barcelona. It is the highest time we get a win. We will play hard, play our best and we will see what happens."

Barcelona follows Doellman, Thomas into first place

FC Barcelona remained picture perfect in killer Group C by pulling away steadily all night to a resounding 86-67 victory over visiting PGE Turow Zgorzelec on Friday. The victory combined with Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul losing on Thursday gave Barcelona sole possession of first place in Group C with a 3-0 record, while Turow remained winless through as many games. Justin Doellman scored all of his 20 points in the first half and added 8 rebounds to lead the winners, but they had they still had Turow shadowing them until late in the third quarter, when it was 54-49. That's when Alex Abrines scored 10 of his points in 3 spectacular minutes that broke the game open for good. Deshaun Thomas poured in 17 points for Barcelona, while Ante Tomic scored 10 to go with 9 rebounds. Once again for Turow, the duo of Damian Kulig and Mardy Collins led the scoring with 19 and 15 points respectively, while Uros Nikolic came off the bench for 9 in 6 minutes.

Doellman lights the spark

Doellman and Marcelinho Huertas got Barcelona going with three-point strikes on their team's first two possessions before Ivan Zigeranovic dropped in a layup for Turow. Barcelona then went inside for a pair of baskets by Tomic that Collins answered himself, but when Huertas went behind his back to Thomas for a fastbreak dunk, Barca led 15-6 and Turow needed a timeout. Kulig got on the scoreboard with a triple, but Turow let Doellman follow his own shot and drill another three to make it 20-9. Collins sparked Turow's reaction with a fastbreak layup and dunk before Nemanja Jaramaz came off the bench and struck from downtown. Kulig went back to the arc for another blast and Vlad Moldoveanu got to the free throw line, cutting Barcelona's lead to 23-21 after one quarter.

Turow ties and Barcelona reacts

Mychal Chylinski opened the second quarter scoring to tie it 23-23 for Turow before Barcelona used free throws by Doellman plus baskets by Maceij Lampe and Brad Oleson to gain a new cushion. Despite Kulig's next basket, Tibor Pleiss entered and added to Barcelona's lead, which Doellman and Thomas soon pushed higher. Nikolic's 5 points in a row helped Turow stay within 36-31, and after a steal and dunk by Doellman, Kulig would do the same at 40-35. But a triple by Oleson started Barcelona on a 7-2 closing run highlighted by him feeding Lampe for a layup on the way to halftime and Barcelona's biggest lead yet, 49-37.

Abrines breaks it open

Collins sparked Turow with a triple on Turow's first shot after the break, while Tomic returned an offensive rebound for Barcelona at 50-42. Chylinski and Thomas traded baskets before Tony Taylor got his first for Turow and Filip Dylewicz drove to cut the difference to 54-46. Soon, Chylinski reappeared with a blast from the arc to force a Barcelona timeout at 54-49. The hosts responded with Bostjan Nachbar lobbing to Pleiss for an easy dunk and Thomas posting up to make it 58-50. Abrines came out of nowhere to block Kulig and raced the other way for a triple in transition before Thomas dropped another jumper to keep Barcelona safe at 63-50. Nikolic got 4 points back on free throws, but gave back to the hosts by getting tagged with a technical foul that turned into a four-point play for Barcelona when Abrines drilled a triple. Abrines was not done, either, as he popped off a screen for another three-pointer to finish the third quarter with Barcelona enjoying its widest lead yet, 72-55.

Barca guards big lead

Nachbar opened the final quarter with his own shot from the arc and Thomas busted loose for a fastbreak layup and the first 20-plus lead, 76-55. Soon, Huertas was left alone to bury his second triple as the difference kept climbing to 83-57. After a Turow timeout, Kulig worked on his team's scoring to get the visitors within 85-67 as Barcelona eased to the finish with its unbeaten record intact and exclusive hold on first place in Group C.

Head Coaches

PASCUAL, XAVI

FC Barcelona

"We started the second half well, faster in transition offense and stronger in the defensive rebounds. We are not in a bad situation and are happy with this win. We will see what happens in the future, but this is an important win. We said in the preview that Turow was a much more difficult opponent than people expected. We saw their game against Panathinaikos, in which they were down by 2 points with 4 minutes left, and against Fenerbahce, in which they started 0-13 and got back in the game. We knew it was a difficult game against a team that opens the floor well. When Kulig plays at the '5' position, it is hard to guard him. We had 5 really bad minutes and the rest of the game was really good. We played a good game that we finished well. Our next two games will be very difficult, against Fenerbahce on the road and Panathinaikos at home. We are the only team in this group at 3-0 and are happy about it. We must try to finish the first round of games in a good situation."

RAJKOVIC, MIODRAG

PGE Turow Zgorzelec

"First of all, it is nice to visit FC Barcelona. For us, it is one more lesson, our third game in the Euroleague. We have to be ready to pay our price in the best basketball school, the Euroleague. I cannot say that I am happy how we finished the game, we lost by 20, but in general, I can say that I am glad the way we play for 25 to 30 minutes. In general, we have a lot of injuries and a small rotation. We are missing two players and a new guy who came two days ago, without practice, Chris Wright. Barcelona plays some of the most beautiful basketball in Europe. They are a very, very dangerous team."

Players

DOELLMAN, JUSTIN

FC Barcelona

"That's a good start for us. We have three victories already and I am very happy for it. We have to continue to get better and grow as a team. Definitely our defense stepped up in the second half. We had great hustle plays and Alex Abrines got hot, he hit a couple of threes and that was good for us. Every game is a difficult game. We have to continue to move on."